Monday, January 3, 2011

I know this is a bit off topic but I thought it was a bit interesting and wanted to share and see what you think it is.

I always like to photgraph the old buildings that are around the cemeteries. There are some very interesting old building still standing. This is a building I photographed in Washington County Arkansas. This isn't a great photo I took it through the windshield of the car. But you can still see what I'm talking about.

Ok, so here is the interesting thing. Do you see the flying creature above the house? It's rather large and odd looking.

I swear wasn't there when I took the picture. Neither I nor my friend Theresa saw it when I took the photo. I didn't even notice it until I uploaded the pic onto my computer. Odd hu? I know logic tells me it had to be there but still neither of us remember seeing it and Theresa took a photo at the roughly the same time and it wasn't in her photo.

I'm still not sure what it is. It doesn't look like a bird. Wings are too smooth for it to be a bird. I thought it might be a bat. I researched bats in Arkansas and the Hoary Bat has a 16.1 inch wingspan so that might be it. But isn't it odd for bats to be out in the day time?

that is weird! it looks like a butterfly to me. i wonder if the perspective could be kind of funny--like, the butterfly was flying a lot closer to the camera than it looks like in the photo, so rather than hovering around the roof it's actually a few feet outside the car window. i don't see any kind of shadow on the roof, and if a flying thing of that size was positioned above the roof the way it looks in the photo i'm pretty sure we'd be able to see the shadow. the butterfly theory would also explain why your friend didn't capture it and why you didn't see it at the time.

Yep it sure looks like a bat to me......I have seen lots of large fruit bats in India and Malaysia and although they usually rest ( hanging upside down during the day ) occasionally flapping a wing to cool down, like battered, windblown old umbrella, they may very occasionaly fly to another tree to roost elsewhere. Dusk is the best time to spot them when they are really active.